//------------------------------// // To hunt a grunt // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// The Royal Unova. The Verdant Planet AKA the Gigantic Torterra. 8:00. "Alright, all of you." Drake was speaking to his crew. "We've got an unwanted guest on this ship. Part of Team Plasma. Our main objective now is to get back to Nimbasa City and hand him over to Officer Jenny." "Aye captain!" They all exclaimed in unison. "This isn't the first time we've dealt with stowaways and trespassers. But with the size of the Royal Unova, it'll be harder to find him than the others from before." "So do we make an announcement on the ship about a Team Plasma Grunt?" The helmsman asked. "Do so. That'll get a scare out of him. But he won't show himself obviously, not in the state he's currently in. Stay sharp and on high alert. We're not the only ones searching for him anyway. Now, prepare to sail soon. We'll be avoiding the Flaming Tsunami this time." Drake was right on that. Ash and the others had offered to help search for the Team Plasma Grunt on the Royal Unova. It might take a while, probably until they reach Nimbasa, but they were determined to catch him. Alongside Spike's newly caught dragon partner, the Equestrian Axew, who was currently in his Unova form at the moment. Since Axew was the same size as Spike, he was out of his Poke Ball since he preferred to stay out in the fresh air. "Okay so...where do we start?" Rainbow Dash asked. "He could be anywhere, ya know." "Audi still can't pick up on him," said Fluttershy. "There's a lot of noise on the Royal Unova so it'll be tough for her to find the right frequency." "Audino." "We'll find him." Twilight nodded. "Let's all check every deck there is and thoroughly. Pinkie Pie. Have your Slurpuff's sniff him out." "Oh, sorry, Twilight! But my Slurpuff's haven't had the time to really get the grunt's scent down. They gotta be extra close to somepony before they can really sniff 'em anywhere." "I got that covered." Spike chimed in. "The grunt and his Drapion grabbed me and Axew both. So you can just use us." "Axew!" "Oh, Okay. That makes it easy then!" Pinkie Pie squeed. "Don't think he'll stay in one spot. He'll obviously try and move around the ship for the sake of further making his presence obscure." Rarity warned. "Then in that case..." Twilight thought for a moment. "We'll all split up! There's enough of us for all the decks in the ship, right?" "Looks like it." Ash looked around the ship. "Other than the cabins, there are enough decks for all of us to check out." "Pikachu." "If we can get at least one Team Plasma member, we'll get even closer to freeing Pyrestar's world from Ghetsis." Twilight looked at her friends. "If anypony finds him, use your Xtransceiver's okay? Or just call for Audino's name with a loud yell. She'll hear it for sure." "Pika!" Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder, ready to split up on his own. "I'll get started! This'll be like a fun mystery hunt!" Pinkie Pie sent her Slurpuff's out as Spinda popped out of her mane. "Meet you back here in the lounge!" She took off, being the first one to start searching as her Slurpuff's stuck together, focusing on Axew and Spike. Everyone had split up into different directions. Some deciding to stick in groups. Now it wasn't just Drake's crew searching for the Team Plasma Grunt. The search for the grunt was now on. Vitality Deck. 8:12 "Okay!" Pikachu rubbed his hands together as he entered the Vitaly Deck. "If I wanted to hide, I'd go to the lowest part of the ship. I think..." Pikachu started searching the Vitality deck since it was one of the lower decks. The grunt might hide in a dark area. And no area gets darker than the lower section the further one goes. Pikachu watched as ponies and humans were getting their backs massaged by the Machamps here or even getting a free hot sauna bath with a Macargo as the main source of heat. If he were to continue north of the Vitality deck, he would reach the next room. "Hm?" A Machamp who was massaging a unicorn noticed Pikachu wandering around. "You lost kid?" "Hm?" Pikachu looked up at Machamp. "Nah. I'm just looking for someone right now with my friends." "You mean that grunt that was announced on the ship?" "Yeah, that one! Have you seen him? He was wearing a trench coat to disguise himself! I think he's still wearing the coat right now!" "Trench coat, hm?" Machamp hit the unicorn's sensitive spot with one arm, making him tingle while he used his other arm to hold his own chin. "I saw some jackets come in but no trench coats. None of our patients wore any. Did they, bro?" Machamp turned to the other Machamp beside him. "Trench coat?" The second Machamp turned to his fellow Superpower Pokemon while massaging a human. "Yeah, I saw some guy in a trench coat." "You did?!" Pikachu shot up after hearing that. "But that was hours ago." Machamp quickly shot him down. "Aww..." "Sorry kid. Maybe you can try somewhere else." The first Machamp said. "But you ain't alone in this so you're gonna have some luck finding that guy." "Right." Pikachu nodded. "I'll try the next room then!" Pikachu dashed towards the next room, hoping to make some great progress soon. "Ah, wait! It ain't a good idea to-" The Machamp's tried to warn him, but it was too late. Pikachu opened the door to the next room and was met with an unwelcoming surprise. The next room was where they kept the hot towels for passengers who want to stay warm in the cold or a deep way to clean the skin. The Machamp's were tasked with grabbing them since they were powerful enough to maintain the heat and versatile enough to hold many towels. Pikachu however, was not as the hot towels that were packed in the room fell on him like a landslide. "Gah!" Pikachu gasped as the hot towels engulfed him, drowning the Electric Mouse Pokemon in a sea of towels that were each focusing their heat onto Pikachu's body. Pikachu could feel the heat of the hot towels getting to him as he was not enjoying himself right now. Hot towels are meant to be enjoyed with just one. Multiple is just pain. Which is what Pikachu was going through right now. Luckily, the Machamp's went over and grabbed the pile of towels at high speeds, freeing Pikachu from further pain as they put their massage for the human and unicorn on hold. "O-ow..." Pikachu's body was a bit burnt after that as he was on the floor with his body steaming. That many hot towels on a small Pokemon like him can leave a lasting effect that might take hours to get through. "Hot! Hot!" "That's a shame." The first Machamp crossed his arms. "A real shame indeed." The second Machamp nodded his head. "Alright, kid. You're gonna need to cool off before continue playing detective." He picked Pikachu up. "O-Okay..." Before Pikachu could continue his search, he needed to be cooled off and healed from the heat that was currently punishing his body. Luckily, just like how they have a sauna in the Vitality Deck, they also have a reverse sauna where it's cold instead of hot. "Aah...That's good..." Pikachu was placed inside of the cooling room's little pool where he could recover himself from the heat while also feeling refreshed. He was about to get out of the pool and continue his investigation, but after having so many burns, he still needed a little more time before he can get out here. "Ow-ow! Not done yet..." "Did the towels land on you too?" A Buizel spoke to him. "Yeah...my bad on that one." Pikachu sighed. "I gotta cool off fast and keep on searching. Before we get back to Nimbasa. Hope the others are having better luck than me." Normal Deck. 8:30. Eve and Absol had grouped up, searching the Normal Deck for the grunt. Absol was trying to see if his horn could pick up on the grunt, but unfortunately, it only really picks up on actual disasters and incoming disasters. And the grunt isn't really a threat right now because of what happened back at the Verdant Planet, AKA the Giant Torterra. They asked other Pokemon if they had by chance seen the grunt. "What does he look like?" A Sentret asked. "Well the main thing he hides in is a trench coat. So have you seen anyone wearing a trench coat here?" Eve asked. "Trench coat...Yeah, I saw a guy with a Trench Coat." Sentret nodded. "Not long ago actually." "Really! That's great!" Eve grinned. "Where did he go?!" "I saw him go south but that's it. I just stuck by my trainer the entire time." "South. Got it. Thanks a lot, Sentret. We've got a lead now, Absol." "Good. Let's snag him." Absol faced south as he was ready to charge in if he ran into the grunt. He and Eve went south after gaining knowledge, hoping to find the grunt as soon as possible. By themselves, they weren't planning on tackling him. Although, Absol is a different story. By heading south, they arrived at the Drink Deck, which connected to the Normal Deck. So far, no sign of the grunt but rather people just enjoying their drinks, despite the knowledge of there being a Team Plasma Grunt onboard somewhere. But their little venture in the Drink Deck quickly changed into something else, when Absol noticed a shady figure standing in the corner, camouflaged in the darkness. "Who's there?!" Absol exclaimed which startled Eve. "You looking for someone?" The shady figure, which turned out to be a Sneasel spoke. "I can help you with that." "You can?" Eve said. "Sure I can. I know of a place that'll really help you find that grunt person you're looking for real quick." Sneasel nodded. "Oh, that sounds-" "Yeah right." Absol cut Eve off as he was very cautious of Sneasel. "You already sound slippery. How do we know that you know there's a place where we can find him quicker?" "I'll let you in on something that not many know about." Sneasel snickered. "On this ship, a bunch of us Wild Pokemon have ourselves a little sub-deck of our own. One where that tall captain can't even find us." "Hold on! Are you a stowaway?" Eve narrowed her eyes. "That's not important right now." Sneasel shook his claws. "You wanna find your guy, right? Trust me on this one and you won't be disappointed." "Hmmrgh..." Absol's horn was flaring up. "Well...Let's see this sub-deck that you're hiding first." Eve stepped forward. "But no funny business, okay?" "There ain't no funny business here. Just watch." The decision was made. Sneasel led them to this secret sub-deck by pushing the corner of the wall with his claws. It seemed that the corner of the wall had already been damaged as Sneasel could easily push through it. When he did push through it, a secret passageway with stairs had opened up as it was wide enough to fit Pokemon that are mostly around Absol's height. Meaning that large Pokemon such as Dragonite will be unable to enter. Sneasel looked back at Eve and Absol before jumping into the secret passageway and sliding on the stairs by using his ice to do so. Eve and Absol looked at each other as they were ready to brace this together. Instead of jumping down like Sneasel, they just chose to walk down the stairs as they faded into the darkness, undetected by anyone else. And once they got past those stairs, they were given the revelation of this sub-deck that Sneasel mentioned. It was an entire party room with many Pokemon, mostly from the wild, residing here. The main room was a combination of a sit-down cafe and a discotheque, with the main attraction being a cabaret stage where Pokemon can perform whatever they want on it. There was even a large array of Pokemon food laying on the tables with the Pokemon themselves enjoying them. There were also colourful lights in this sub-level, almost like a Christmas room with how many of them were flaring. Eve was stunned while Absol was aggravated by the bright colours. The Pokemon were just having fun down here in secret without Drake and his crew even knowing about its existence. "Mom! I want it!" A Pikipek wailed to her mother who was a Trumbeak. "All that moaning won't guarantee it to you. Just have patience, okay?" Trumbeak replied. "Trubbish! Dump your stuff somewhere else, okay?!" A Steenee was yelling at a Trubbish. "Sorry... I can't help it." Trubbish whimpered. Every Pokemon here had their own story in this sub-deck. They had made this secret spot their new home. The Royal Unova could be considered their home technically since that's where they've all migrated to. "Oh!" Eve gawked. "Pretty!" "It's all so....colourful..." Absol closed one eye as the lights were shining in his face. "What? Did you think it was gonna be shady and dark?" Sneasel laughed as he jumped on a table. "You're in Pokemon Paradise right now!" "Pokemon Paradise..." Eve's jaw dropped. "It definitely feels like it. So this whole place was founded by Wild Pokemon?" "Sure was. We wanted to find our own new way of having fun without needing a Pokemon Trainer. So the boss came up with the awesome idea of sneaking onto this ship and making all of this possible. This totally beats living in the wild 24/7." "Ooh! New friends!?" A group Maractus bounced over to Eve and Absol. "Would you like to buy something? I have some power-boosting accessories you might benefit from." A Purrloin held out a box of jewellery as she also approached Eve and Absol. "No thanks." Absol said. "This place is nice and all but we're here for the grunt not all of this. You gonna tell us or what?" "Right, right. Such a need to be in a hurry." Sneasel replied. "You can count on our surveillance expert Duosion to get you what you need." "You have surveillance down here?" Eve was impressed. "Sure do. We snagged half of the surveillance from the ship and brought it all here. Helps a lot to feed on the ship's main surveillance system so we can all see what is going on from all levels in the ship." "Wait, snagged?" Eve narrowed her eyes. "It's stolen?!" "Yep." "Why would you steal it? And how did you even get it without breaking any of the machinery?" "Don't even worry about that. Besides, we get to watch some entertaining stuff on those screens. Especially when Duskull and the other Ghost-Types come out at night to mess with the janitor. It's always a joy to watch!" Sneasel laughed. "I see..." Eve winced. "Well..can you at least show us where it is?" "Sure thing. Right through that door over there." Sneasel led Eve and Absol to the room where they needed to be. By opening a door that was on the left, Sneasel brought both of Twilight's Pokemon to the surveillance room. There, many monitors were plastered on the wall, each having its own screen that could oversee most of the ship. There were some exceptions since half of the monitors had been stolen. And sitting right in the middle was a Duosion who was monitoring everything and acted as the eye of the Pokemon Paradise and to an extent, the Royal Unova. "Hm?" Duosion turned around as she heard the door opening, spotting Sneasel along with the newcomers of Eve and Absol. "Sneasel! All's good here! Who are your friends?" "Real quick. These two over here are looking for someone. Team Plasma Grunt, was it?" "Wearing a trench coat as a disguise too." Eve chimed in. "My friends and I are all searching for him right now. And we need all the help we can get to find him." "Probably hiding somewhere dark," said Absol. "I'd do the same if I wanted to hide." "What they said. Can you track down this guy in a trench coat?" Sneasel asked. "Uhh..." Both of Duosions brains, which are divided into two, started thinking and going against each other. "There's a lot of passengers on this ship and finding one specific person will be tricky...but these monitors show extra parts of the ship that the other monitors in the main surveillance room don't. Like really dark corners and places. Which is why we stole only these monitors." "So can you?" Absol questioned. "Ah!" Both of Duosion's brains came to an agreement. "Sure can! Just leave it to me!" Duosion used her psychic abilities to control all of the monitors at the same time. She didn't need to use her limbs or even evolve into a Reuniclus to manage the monitors. Although that would benefit a lot. The monitors in the Pokemon Paradise showed the Generator Room, which was located on the east side of the lower deck, the storage room where all the necessary supplies are kept, the ship's rudder and so on. These monitors mostly covered the obscure parts of the Royal Unova with a few of them being public areas. Duosion alternated between screens, searching for anything that might catch the interest of Eve and Absol. Both of Twilight's Pokemon were shifting their eyes across the screen, searching for the grunt. That's when something really caught their interest. On their left, they noticed that one of the cabins had a Poke Ball next to it just laying there. And the door of the cabin seemed to be a bit cracked as a hand with a black glove came through it, picking the Poke Ball off the floor. "Oh! There! What about that!?" Eve pointed her paw at the screen that showed a cabin. "Hm? Oh, that's the Aft Cabin." Duosion pointed out. "Aft Cabin?" Eve and Absol both said. "They're the cabins on the back of the ship," Sneasel explained. They're kinda fragile at the moment. It hasn't been fixed it yet so no one goes there to rest. But Duskull and the others like to mess around there when the janitor's nearby." "No one goes there to rest, huh?" Eve smirked. "And yet there's a hand, Poke Ball and an open door. I think we've got our lead! Thank you so much, Duosion! And Sneasel." "You're welcome!" Duosion exclaimed. "Not gonna stick around here? This place is amazing." Sneasel said. "Maybe later. After we've caught him. Let's go, Absol! We can tell Twilight and everyone else. I'll start calling for Audino." "You do that. I'll head over and knock him out flat." Absol took off on his own as he ran out of the surveillance room. "Oh! Absol!" Eve groaned. "On your own?! I thought we were going to stick together! Ugh...Anyway! Thanks again for helping out?!" Eve waved goodbye to Sneasel and Duosion as she left the room as well. Absol ran out of the Pokemon Paradise as he was already ahead of Eve, heading straight for the Aft Cabin with blistering speed. Absol, despite having a trainer now, was still a bit of a wild Pokemon. Living in the mountains for years, especially in a wild habitat, greatly affected his behaviour and personality. But that's just who Absol was. "Audino!" Eve called out for Audino's name as she exited the Pokemon Paradise with Sneasel standing guard outside, closing the passageway as he watched both of Twilight's Pokemon move in a hurry. Meanwhile, with Axew's group, they were actually on the right track themselves. Because the grunt and his Drapion had interacted with Axew and Spike, the Slurpuff's had a great lead. They were already heading towards the direction of the Aft Cabin with one Slurpuff standing in front of her fellow Meringue Pokemon. However, one Slurpuff was greatly distracted, as her nose was picking up on a more alluring scent that was pulling her in. She turned away from her friends as she walked over to the right, heading for the source of that scent. "Mmm...something smells good." She was so enchanted by the scent that she was even floating towards it. But thankfully, one of her fellow Slurpuff's grabbed her before she could lose herself in the mission. "Focus!" "Ah!" She fell flat on her face. "I'm focusing! Something just smelled really good!" "I smell it too. But we're almost there. Let's finish this first and then we can eat whatever's there. Just keep following Spike and Axew and we'll have the grunt where we want him." "Right." She snapped back to reality, focusing on Axew and Spike as they continued their path towards the Aft Cabin. However, Axew himself had also picked up on that delicious scent coming from the right as he paused for a moment. "Mmm... that smells good..." The Tusk Pokemon was enchanted as he was now floating towards the direction of the smell. But once again, the other Slurpuff's put a stop to that as they needed to focus. While they were moving at a steady pace, Absol was moving at a lightning-pace, wanting to put an end to this whole grunt debacle immediately. "Hm?" Audino had heard Eve call for her name, which was a very clear sign that the grunt's whereabouts had been found. Audino had stopped walking as she immediately changed her direction course. "Oh, they've found him!" Responding to Eve's cry, Audino went straight towards the source of the cry, holding her feelers up as she could hear Eve constantly shouting her name out. Audino's large body hindered her speed, unfortunately, so she would always be a bit later. Thankfully, Eve was moving while screaming Audino's name, so there was no need to worry. "Ah..." Pikachu was healed up without any burns after spending some time in the cooling room. Now he was ready to continue his search. "Okay. Where to next? Maybe Ash has already found him." Pikachu rubbed his ear, walking out of the Vitaly Deck. The Electric-Mouse Pokemon entered the Normal Deck, aiming to ask questions on where the grunt could be. But before he could do so, Absol bumped into him after moving at high speeds, causing them both to fall over. "Ough!" They both said as they fell on their backs. "Ugh!" Absol got up, shaking his head. "Sorry about that, Pikachu!" "Ow...No problem. Did you find him?" "Sure did. He's at someplace called the Aft Cabin." "Aft Cabin?" "Can't waste any time. I'm heading there to knock him out!" Absol dashed off. "Oh! Wait!" Pikachu stood up. "We should probably-" It was too late. Absol was already far away from Pikachu. That and he refused to listen to anyone trying to stop him. Pikachu sighed as he lowered his head. "At least we know where he is now. Audino!" With the knowledge of where the grunt was, Pikachu also called for Audino's name. But he also called for Ash's name since he knew that Ash would respond as well. The Aft Cabin. At the back of the ship. Completely off-limits as no one is allowed to enter because of its current status. Its fragility was high, meaning it could fall apart easily with the whole cabin coming crashing down on the passenger who resides there. But right now, there was indeed someone residing there. The one who held the Poke Ball was indeed the grunt. Only he would go into the forbidden cabin to conceal his presence. But unfortunately for him, thanks to Duosion, his presence had been made clear. The Poke Ball he picked up had a Cherubi inside of it as he released the Cherry Pokemon. This Cherubi had some of the mixed magic inside of it, so it was worth bringing back to the Harmonia Kingdom for research. But right now, the grunt ordered the Cherubi to heal his Drapion with Heal Pulse. The Cherubi was scared of the grunt and his Drapion, despite how beaten up it looked after what Axew did to it, so it was intimidated to listen to him. It had used Heal Pulse to heal Drapion back to full strength, eliminating all the damage that Axew had dealt when he was in his Haxorus form. With Drapion back to full strength, the grunt now had a way to defend himself once more. He returned Cherubi to its Poke Ball as he was now ready to give Colress a quick status update on what has happened so far. He left his Drapion in the lounge room while he went into the bedroom to chat with Colress. "Feh." Drapion cracked a few of his muscles. "Those dragons...I could've totally beaten them." He was clearly unpleased with how his battle with Salamence and Haxorus turned out. The Ogre Scorp Pokemon was feeling a bit of revenge in him as he was eager to get out there for some payback. However, he had to stay behind until he returned to the Harmonia Kingdom in Pyrestar's world. But, as Drapion was standing by, he could hear footsteps moving rapidly towards the Aft Cabin. It was clearly someone running. And that someone was Absol. Drapion could hear Absol talking about how he was going to put an end to this by knocking out the grunt when he got to the cabin. Knowing that a threat was heading this way, Drapion decided to deal with the threat himself. He grinned as he stood by the corner of the door, readying his claws and tail for Absol's inevitable arrival. Absol jumped over the barricade and tape that blocked off the path towards the Aft Cabin, ignoring the warning about it being off-limits. With Absol now in the Aft Cabin, his horn flared as he was ready to pummel the grunt relentlessly. Knocking him out for hours would give Drake's crew enough time to reach Nimbasa City and have Officer Jenny come for the grunt. However, when Absol walked through the door, he was immediately met with a sudden claw grab from Drapion, who dug his sharp claws into Absol's neck. "Agh!" "Gotcha!" Drapion exclaimed as he lifted the Disaster Pokemon from the floor. Absol was squirming as he could feel the claws dig into his skin. Drapion used his other claw to hold Absol's mouth, preventing him from firing any attacks from there while he also used his tail to hold Absol's horn. "Mrrmgh!" Absol growled as he was trying to break free. He tried to use Quick Attack, but that wasn't working. Now he was completely captured. "Shouldn't have come to a closed-off area." Drapion cackled as he dug some poison into Absol's body from his claws. "Wonder if you've got anything special in you?" Absol winced as he was now poisoned and defenceless. Coming here on his own was ambitious as he had the right idea, but it was executed poorly. Thankfully, the Aft Cabin had been discovered, so his friends were on the way. But right now, he wasn't in the best state. The grunt was still in the room, telling everything to Colress while Drapion had a captive in his clutches. Absol's friends were on their way towards the Aft Cabin while everyone else continues to search for the grunt as the journey back to Nimbasa City continues. Chapter 348 End.